Tag Archives: arts 3091

For me, VR’s integration into the consumer market has flown under the radar, but after reading the GigantiCo blog on Augmented Reality, I have realised that products are out there and ready to be consumed. Although they may not be exactly how virtual reality is portrayed in movies such as Avatar and Tron, they are taking those leaps towards the future.

However, it seems as if VR and augmented reality have not taken off, perhaps as desired, due to their being ‘ahead of time’. I can liken this to the release of the iPad, which by some (including Molly Wood of CNET) was said to be a product ‘ahead of it’s time’. The technology was there, but the correct application of technology, and the market to consume it, was not. The iPad ended up being a hit, despite it’s lack of features (no camera, multi-tasking, poor graphics). People bought the product but didn’t know how to use it. Not all newspapers were accessible on the iPad, there was no GPS, and web browsing was difficult due to no Flash compatibility. The release of iPad 2, in a sense, opened up the ‘virtual’ to the consumer. GPS and compass features made the iPad much more usable. Although I am comparing the iPad release to VR products, the iPad itself facilitates the ‘virtual’ for consumers. Owners/users are able to step into the iPad for it’s navigation purposes and become part of an “extended mind” (Andy Clark, 1997).

In linking this to media theory, the ‘network society’ we are part of, stimulates the proliferation of technology, but as Guattari said back in 1989

“All existing theoretical bodies of this type share the shortcoming of being closed to the possibility of creative proliferation”

We demand technology at such rapid pace, that innovative products are being released that are simply unusable or undesirable, because of our lack of technical knowledge. If technology was as advanced as we wanted it to be, VR would be a part of our everyday lives. It has the potential to be something we use daily, but it won’t be until the ‘network society’ adapts to the technology, and VR becomes something more than an exciting marvel.

Fuller expresses ‘Media Ecologies’ as an “interrelation of processes … of beings … and matter”. I like this interpretation, as media ecologies are exactly that. The ‘ecology’ aspect being, it’s interaction with the living things around it, including us as humans, and the other living things around us. When looking at ecology, you must look at the things around you. I’m fascinated with the idea that media shapes the thing around us. Why are we in a certain place doing a certain thing? Why not somewhere else? Does media decide what we do, and where we do it?

It is known fact that media has changed the way we live our everyday lives. There are certain aspects of our lives however, that are not only changed, but maintained by media, and thus a media ecology is formed.

The idea of ‘feedback loops’ is raised in the ‘Games as a Happening, as a Service’ blog post. The author, Tomas, states that with certain games, particularly, MMO’s, players’ activity encourages more people to play. This concept of a media event creating loops, linking back to that same event is very familiar in it’s nature. I immediately think of online forums when considering feedback and feedforward loops. What people contribute to forums is very influential in our practices. For example, researching a product online before buying it may lead you to a forum relating to that product. You will read and take on board the comments about that product (good or bad) and thus make you decision on whether to by that particular thing. However, within forums, there are few boundaries of opinion, so pretty much anything can be said. What people say will to an extent influence your decision, whether true or false. You will make you purchasing decision on those opinions. You may then contribute for yourself about the product, once bought and give your own take on it, further influencing what people to come, will think of the product and whether they choose to buy it or not.

We see that within media ecologies, experiences are created by our own interactions with media. It’s astounding to see that most of the time, we don’t recognise that our own contributions shape our experiences.